9th Amplico Life Rapid Warsaw (Concluded)
Vladimir Malakhov impresses
IM Malcolm Pein - Thursday 24th December 2009
GM Vladimir Malakhov impressed at the recent FIDE World Cup and got to the semi finals. He may be a physicist by profession but he is clearly taking his chess very seriously and followed up success in Siberia with victory at the 9th Amplico Warsaw Life Rapid Open tournament at Warsaw. Malakhov secured victory ahead of Vassily Ivanchuk by defeating Alexey Shirov with the black pieces in the last round to finish with the astounding score of 11.5/13 in a competition played over two days. Ivanchuk was second on 11/13.
GM Vladimir Malakhov impressed at the recent FIDE World Cup and got to the semi finals. He may be a physicist by profession but he is clearly taking his chess very seriously and followed up success in Siberia with victory at the 9th Amplico Warsaw Life Rapid Open tournament at Warsaw. Malakhov secured victory ahead of Vassily Ivanchuk by defeating Alexey Shirov with the black pieces in the last round to finish with the astounding score of 11.5/13 in a competition played over two days. Ivanchuk was second on 11/13.
Malakhov defeated three of the world's leading players: Ivanchuk, Shirov and Vugar Gashimov who I understand has just received the first elite invitation of his career and will be playing at Linares next year.
Some neat back rank tactics decide this game
S Vysochin - V Malakhov
9th Amplico Life Rapid Warsaw
15' + 10'
Four Knights
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Bb4 5.0-0 0-0 6.d3 d6 7.Bg5 Bxc3 8.bxc3 Bd7 9.Re1 h6 10.Bh4 a6 11.Ba4 Ne7! 12.Bxd7 Nxd7 13.d4 f6!
(Black is very solid on the kingside and now pressures the weak white squares on the queenside)
14.Rb1 Rb8 15.Nd2 Qe8 16.Nf1 Qf7 17.Rb3 Nb6 18.f3 Nc4 19.Bf2 b5 20.Ne3 a5 21.d5 a4 22.Rb1 Nxe3 23.Bxe3 f5! 24.Qd3
(24.exf5 Nxd5 25.Qd3 Nxe3 26.Rxe3 Qxf5)
24...fxe4 25.fxe4 Ng6 26.Rxb5 Nf4 27.Bxf4 Qxf4 28.Rbb1 Qf2+ 29.Kh1 Rb2!
Vladimir Malakhov
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S Vysochin
Position after 29...Rb2!
30.Rf1
(30.Rxb2 Qxe1+)
30...Rf4! 31.h3
(31.Rxf2 Rxb1+)
31...Qxc2 32.Qxc2 Rxf1+! 33.Rxf1 Rxc2
(The endgame is easily won)
34.Rb1 Rxc3 35.Rb4 a3 36.h4 Kf7 37.Kh2 Kg6 38.g3 Rc2+ 39.Kh3 Rxa2 40.Rc4 Ra1 41.Rxc7 a2 42.h5+ Kh7 0-1
Black promotes
V Malisauskas - A Shirov
9th Amplico Life Rapid Warsaw (8)
Sicilian Sveshnikov
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nd5 Bg7 11.c4 f5 12.cxb5 Nd4 13.b6 0-0 14.exf5 Bb7 15.Bc4 Rc8 16.f6 Bxf6 17.0-0 Rxc4! 18.Nxf6+
(18.Nxc4 Bxd5)
18...Qxf6 19.Nxc4 Nf3+!
Alexei Shirov
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V Malisauskas
Position after 19...Nf3+!
20.Kh1
(20.gxf3 Bxf3 and Qg5+)
20...Qf4 21.Qxf3 Bxf3 22.Nxd6 Bxg2+ 23.Kxg2 Qg4+ 24.Kh1 Qf3+ 25.Kg1 Kh8 26.Rfd1 Rg8+ 27.Kf1 Rg2 28.Ne4 Rxh2 0-1
